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Contents Abbreviations 1 Executive summary 3 1 Introduction 15 1.1 Research methods and scope 19 2 South Africa’s changing climate 21 2.1 Understanding climate change: what we know and what we don’t 22 2.2 Impacts of climate change for South Africa in the present, immediate future and distant future 24 2.3 How will climate change impact on different sectors in South Africa? 30 3 How does climate change affect children in South Africa? 33 3.1 Effects of development pressures on child well-being 34 3.2 Global evidence of the primary effects of climate variability and change on child well-being 36 3.3 What are the primary impacts of climate change on children in South Africa? 42 3.4 What are the secondary impacts of climate change on children in South Africa? 51 4 Case studies 61 4.1 Case study 1: Durban – an urban coastal environment 61 4.2 Case study 2: Limpopo province – a rural riverine environment 66 5 National policy responses to climate change 73 5.1 Obligations to respond to children’s vulnerability 74 5.2 Assessment criteria – a child rights framework 74 5.3 An overview of climate change strategies, policies, and programmes in South Africa 76 5.4 Overview of relevant policies in relation to children 77 5.5 Is there integration with other child-relevant policies? What are some of the gaps? 82 5.6 Can the current institutional arrangements bridge the divide? 87 6 Children’s participation in policy processes 89 6.1 The national legal and policy framework for children’s participation on climate change 90 6.2 Selected examples of children and youth participation in climate change and disaster risk reduction 93 7 Key ﬁndings and recommendations for policy 99 7.1 Key ndings 100 7.2 Recommendations for policy 104 7.3 Recommendations for further research 107 Appendices 109 Appendix A: List of interviewees 109 Appendix B: Policies, strategies and programmes in the climate change and related sectors 110 References 113ii Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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Tables, ﬁgures & boxesTablesTable 1: The relationship between climate change and health 40Table 2: Summary of regional climate change impacts across South Africa on key climate variables for the distant future 42Table 3: Main primary impacts of climate change on children in South Africa 50Table 4: The different types of responses to climate variability and change 55Table 5: Secondary impacts of different adaptation strategies on children 59FiguresFigure 1: Analytical framework used in the study 18Figure 2: Trends in mean annual maximum, minimum and average temperatures as obtained from a record of 44 years (1960–2003) 25Figure 3: Primary impacts of climate change on children 38Figure 4: Potential settlements vulnerable to projected extreme rainfall events 43Figure 5: Population growth and geographic distribution of people living in poverty 43BoxesBox 1: Global Circulation Model projections for South Africa’s temperature 26Box 2: Projections for South Africa precipitation 28Box 3: Summary of projected climate change for South Africa 29Box 4: Vulnerabilities to climate change in livelihood production activities in rural South Africa 52Box 5: Summary of urban climate risks in South Africa 53Box 6: Child rights framework policy assessment checklist 75Box 7: International best practice and lessons learnt about child participation in climate change processes 92Box 8: The Children’s Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction 94Box 9: Youth and the transition to a green economy in South Africa 96Box 10: Integrating children’s issues within Municipal government and other local development policy processes 105

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ExecutivesummaryChildren are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The speci c nature oftheir vulnerability is multidimensional, shaped largely by the physical, social, and emotional changesthat take place over the course of childhood. These changes are intensi ed by children’s heightenedsensitivity to negative or high-impact events during the early stages of development and by theirgeneral lack of agency and voice.In the case of South Africa, the impacts of climate change on children need to be considered inrelation to wider development pressures affecting the country. Challenges such as internationaleconomic shocks and stresses, high levels of poverty and inequality, population changes, effects ofHIV and AIDS, management of scarce natural resources and rapid urbanisation will each interact withclimate change. The results of those interactions will affect how far the effects of climate change aretransmitted to children and households at the local level. With this in mind, an effective response tochanging climate and development pressures requires efforts from all stakeholders as well as goodcoordination across multiple levels of governance, from household and community, through municipaland provincial, to national and international levels.There is an important international legal framework that underpins the need to focus on how children’swell-being can be affected by climate change. It particularly points out the duty of the State to enablechildren’s rights to be met. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) commits allsignatory states to protecting the right of every child to a safe, healthy environment in which todevelop and grow. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) recognisesthat the development of a child requires particular care with regard to health, physical, mental, moraland social development. It recognises that the child’s development also requires legal protectionin conditions of freedom, dignity and security. In particular, it recognises the role of the State inprotecting and reuniting children who have been displaced as a result of natural disasters. The WorldFit for Children declaration, which is a consensus outcome from the UN General Assembly SpecialSession on Children held in 1992, articulates the commitment of states to protect children and tominimise the impact on them of natural disasters and environmental degradation.South Africa has already taken steps to understand, recognise and address the challenges thatclimate change poses. This is evident in its National Climate Change Response strategies and otherexamples of environmental and developmental policy response actions. Yet, within these strategies,the ability to recognise and address the needs of the country’s children is not well established. Executive Summary 3

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implications for child development and well-being. Typically, heads of households and caregiversdecide these strategies. However, children may have some degree of agency and, when living on theirown or in child-headed households, children will often in uence the nature of adaptation strategiesthemselves.The ability to carry out these adaptation strategies is known as the ‘adaptive capacity’. Levels ofadaptive capacity vary tremendously from person to person, based on a range of socio-economiccharacteristics1. Those from poor households and marginalised groups (including women andgirls) are generally considered to have lower adaptive capacity. This study seeks to give value bycomplementing the analysis of primary impacts with an exploration of how household coping andadaptation strategies will affect children over the short and long term.How is South Africa’s climate changing?Understanding how the climate is changing is an extremely dif cult process because of the complexinteractions between land, oceans and the atmosphere, and uncertainties in trying to model andpredict the outcome of these interactions, particularly at the local level. The study has relied onobserved records of past temperature and on simulated projections of future climate as its two mainsources of information. Broadly speaking, observation records show that South Africa’s climate hasexperienced trends of increasing average annual temperatures and slight decreases in average annualprecipitation from 1970 to 1990 (McSweeney et al. 2010). However, signi cant variation, particularlyin patterns of precipitation, exists across the country and across different seasons. For example,records point towards positive trends (i.e. more rainfall) over the southwest winter rainfall region andnegative trends (less rainfall) over the north-east summer rainfall region. South Africans notice anincreasing trend in daily temperature extremes and the number of annual ‘hot’2 days and nights. ‘One minute it’s hot, the next minute it’s raining and there is hail, and then it’s hot again’ (From national FGD with children aged 14 to 17 years)3.Future-climate projections are arrived at by using climate models to simulate the characteristics of theearth’s systems. This technique is particularly complicated and projections need to be understood inthe context of large uncertainties. To some extent, at the global and the regional scale, climate changeprojections are fairly well established. Yet there remain many uncertainties about projecting changesat the local level. However, reliable information is available and is good enough to inform adaptationpolicy across various scales. For South Africa, key climate variables relate to changes in temperatureand rainfall patterns (see Table 2, page 42).Sharp increases in temperature are expected, with rates of increase higher in the interior of thecountry than along the coast. With regards to projections of rainfall, an imaginary line divides thecountry in two. Signi cant increases in the average annual rainfall are projected for the central andeastern regions. Contrasting sharp decreases are expected for the west. More importantly, signi cantchanges in rainfall variability and intensity are projected throughout the country, with consequencesfor the incidence of oods and droughts. These changes are likely to have considerable implicationsfor the water and sanitation, health, agriculture, residential, transportation and industry sectors.1 For further information about the characteristics of adaptive capacity at the local level, see the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA).2 A ‘hot’ day or ‘hot’ night is deﬁned by those in which the temperature exceeds 10% as compared to that of days or nights in current climate of that region and season.3 UNICEF South Africa carried out a series of focus group discussions with children at the national level and in the Limpopo and KwaZulu- Natal provinces. The selection of quotes presented in this summary illustrates some of the responses from participants. Executive Summary 5

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‘ e consequences of climate change are widespread: poverty, inequitable land distribution, and agriculture. is will mainly depend on how the rain falls’ (From national FGD with children aged 14 to 17 years). South Africa’s development challenges and their impacts on children In order to understand how children are affected by climate change at the local level, it is important to recognise the interactions and overlaps between climate change and wider development pressures. In many senses, climate change and development have a symbiotic relationship. Climate change is a threat to sustainable development and the achievement of many key development targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, the impacts of climate change are often mediated through interacting development pressures. For example, individuals seldom respond to climate change directly. At the household level, climate change typically is felt indirectly through other processes resulting from development pressures, such as rising food prices, the spread of disease and con icts over natural resource management. ‘As a result of the rise in sea level there will be ooding. en when oods occur there will be losses in part of the city. ere will also be a reduction in the crop production. is will result in goods being expensive in the stores and there will also be the increase in disease’ (FGD with children, KwaZulu-Natal). South Africa’s children suffer high rates of poverty, inequality and climate change vulnerability, particularly those situated in rural areas, because they lack access to adequate sanitation and water, housing, food, education and health care. This has important implications for childhood development. In nearly all aspects of socio-economic comparison, Black African children are disadvantaged signi cantly more than children of other racial origins. Half of all children live in rural areas. KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape (the locations of the former Homelands) contain 76% of all rural-dwelling children. In urban areas too, children face different development pressures caused by over population, poor urban planning and inadequate infrastructure. This makes them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. ‘So I come from a poor community and everything, what am I going to worry about? Feeding my children with the food that I can a ord, or saving the environment?’ (From national FGD with children aged 14 to 17 years). What are the primary impacts of climate change on children in South Africa? As South Africa’s changing climate is likely to vary considerably between provinces, so will the primary impacts on children vary. However, we can expect changing climate and development pressures to have profound implications for health, nutrition, education, emotional and social well-being across different parts of the country. Here follows a summary of the likely main primary impacts on children and the regional variations in the types of impact (see Table 3, page 50).66 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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Changes in rainfall patterns will have multiple primary impacts on children in South Africa. Forexample, the incidence of malaria may rise where higher rainfall is combined with higher temperatures,particularly in the North West and Free States provinces. Similarly, the prevalence of such water-, air-and vector-borne diseases as diarrhoea, cholera and bilharzia may be expected to increase in areaswhere higher levels of rainfall (in terms of intensity, distribution and annual average) are projected,principally where this coincides with poor levels of and inadequate access to sanitation. Theseimpacts will be particularly detrimental if few response and adaptation policy actions are taken. ‘In my community a lot of people tend to defecate in the local grounds, land ll sites. I can encourage my community to have better sanitation, use of toilets, because most of them they just defecate everywhere they go’ (FGD with children, Limpopo).Where levels of rainfall are projected to decrease (notably in the west of the country), issues of landdegradation, soil erosion and lowered agricultural food production are of particular concern to bothchildren and households. In these contexts, young children are most vulnerable to such threats asan inadequate supply of safe drinking water and malnutrition because of their physical vulnerabilityand their nutritional needs. Where households face high levels of stress from loss of livelihoods orare displaced to nd alternative livelihoods, evidence from other countries shows that children aremore exposed to emotional or physical abuse and neglect4. Since children, particularly girls, are oftenresponsible for fetching the household supply of water, they will have to travel greater distances assources become scarcer. As a result, they will have less time to spend on school-work and leisure,both of which are vital for children’s social and intellectual development.Young children are at higher risk of increasing temperatures, especially heatstroke. Projections ofincreasing temperatures and the number of ‘hot’ days and nights per year, particularly for the interiorof South Africa, are of notable concern. Urban areas could experience pronounced warming effectsowing to the ‘urban heat island effect’5. Those children already experiencing disproportionate levelsof exclusion and underdevelopment will be more severely affected by the impacts of climate change.Children may also be affected by negative changes in intra-household dynamics, the emotionaldistress linked to reduced access to basic services, illness, displacement or damage to housing from ooding. ‘[Climate change] causes children to drop out of school when there is ooding, which oods away the houses and all that stu . It causes them to drop out of school and come and look a er their families, which will make them su er, especially educationally or academically so and then another thing is that […] there will be problems in terms of the infrastructure. So children won’t be able to go to school […]’ (FGD with children, Limpopo).What are the secondary impacts of climate change on children in South Africa?In addition to primary impacts, coping and adaptation strategies in response to a changing climate willhave considerable secondary implications for South Africa’s children. Common adaptation strategiesat the local level (undertaken by households or by children themselves) include: changes in lifestyleand behaviour; supplementation of livelihood activities and adaptation of current livelihood practices;4 See Bartlett (2008) for more.5 See Bartlett (2008). Executive Summary 7

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Alternatively, domestic duties may be redistributed to children, generally girls, who will then dedicateless vital time to school and leisure. However, it is important to note that there are possible positivebene ts to be had as, in some cases, children can access an income in this way to help buffer someof the cuts in spending and even learn new skills.Finally, seeking alternative livelihoods (moving permanently from one livelihood practice to another orswitching from one context to another on a permanent basis) is and will continue to be an increasinglyimportant strategy as climate change forces people to adapt the ways in which they sustain themselvesand make a living. Households may need to abandon current livelihood practices completely, in favourof opportunities that are more sustainable in the changing climate. For example, in certain areas ofNorth West province, adolescents are moving away from farm work. This redirection is because ofdoubts over the long-term viability and dominance of rain-fed farming as a livelihood strategy. Itis a considerable challenge for them in the context of lower employment and work opportunities6.Continued and intensi ed climate shock and stress is likely to in uence patterns of rural to urbanmigration, within South Africa and without, across the Southern African region. Migration (bothtemporary and permanent) can have important impacts on children’s well-being. The migration of acarer can help to stabilise or improve household economic status but extended absences of carerscan also cause emotional distress for children. Depending on the level of their care, children risk beingexposed to violence or neglect. These transformational responses are likely to have the largest impacton children’s development and well-being (see Table 5, page 59).National policy responses to climate changeAt the national and local levels, the South African government has been active in generating strategies,policies and plans that respond to a growing awareness of the impacts of climate change. The NationalClimate Change Response White Paper (2011), principally, identi es different vulnerable groups,including children and recognises the need to respond to a changing disease pro le, particularlyadverse to children as a result of climate change.In general, however, children remain invisible because the majority of South Africa’s climate changepolicies and programmes, whether they be at national, provincial or district levels, do not yetadequately recognise children’s vulnerabilities, speci c needs and the role children can play as agentsof change at the grassroots level. In policy documents there appears to be a prevailing assumptionthat children are not individual bearers of rights. Instead, their rights are regarded as being subsumedwithin households and communities. In this way children are expected to bene t automaticallyfrom measures that target vulnerable and poor families as well as from the economic and socialdevelopment of communities per se. While children certainly can bene t from these community andhousehold level measures, owing to their particular vulnerabilities and household dynamics, they arelikely to be affected differently from other members of the household. Children may require additionalsupportive measures or the creation of spaces in which they can become more active agents ofchange.For example, children are not targeted as a priority group currently in national disaster managementlaws. The heightened risk of children to injury, abuse and neglect in the wake of disasters, linkedto climate change, requires that corresponding laws and policies be more child-focused. Similarly,the possible transmission pathways of climate change to children are not yet recognised in suchkey sectors most relevant to children as food and nutrition; water, sanitation and waste removal;education; and social protection. One notable exception is South Africa’s malaria control programme.While the Department of Health acknowledges that there is still much to learn about the impact of6 See Osbhar et al. (2010) for further details. Executive Summary 9

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climate change on malaria, it has put preparatory measures in place already, to deal with the possible consequences of climate change. At the local level, there are some positive entry points for child-sensitive planning. These relate to the mandate of local governments to plan in key child-focused sectors, such as school and health.7 However, there are important knowledge and capacity gaps to be addressed so that local level planners can better be able to consider children’s speci c vulnerabilities in their plans. They could allow spaces for children’s participation to inform this process. ‘What I can say is not only am I the future, I am a human being now. So the things, like climate change as it a ects you, it a ects me. If not more. So that’s why I think I should have a voice in this’ (From national FGD with children aged 14 to 17 years). Children’s participation in policy processes Although children are often considered in terms of their inherent vulnerability, it is a mistake to think of them entirely as victims. There is growing global evidence of the positive role children can play in relation to climate change. They can transfer knowledge to their households and communities, can promote positive change and inform local level planners about how to reduce risks they face with the increased likelihood of disasters. Children not only have an interest in being part of decisions that affect their future, it is also their right to be involved. In South Africa, spaces are starting to be made for children to participate and become more actively engaged in issues related to climate change. However, they are still limited in scope and scale. Some initiatives, supported by schools, have already inspired children and adolescents to become more active voices about climate change and the protection of the environment. The next step is to incorporate these initiatives in local policy spaces, where the voices of children can be heard. There they can better inform planning and ensure a better focus on children’s adaptive capacity. Hand-in-hand with any call for greater child participation goes the need to ensure that issues of climate change are communicated effectively to children. Studies show that the basic principles of climate change are not well understood by many children and, indeed, by the adult population in South Africa in general. A national survey conducted in 2007 found that 22 percent of the youth (aged 16–24 years) had never heard about climate change or global warming before. Twenty-three percent had heard about it but knew nothing or hardly anything about climate change.8 The need for more effective and integrated education and public outreach programmes is imperative. Extensive and successful awareness and communication programmes that are targeted speci cally at children are required, to enhance child participation in decision-making. ‘I will ask the President to start a campaign himself to go to the schools and almost the whole country, to educate the children in the schools about climate change. Maybe they will try and do something about it’ (FGD with children, Limpopo). 7 This study also presents case studies from the Limpopo Province and the city of Durban to illustrate some of the dynamics between national and local level policy making, planning and implementation of climate change actions, including identifying how children’s issues can be made more visible. For more information see the main report. 8 Seager, J. (2008)10 10 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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Recommendations for policyWhile there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding climate change in South Africa, two things areknown: that change is a certainty and that action is required now, in order for policy decisions tosupport children and households in adapting to these changes successfully and sustainably.The projected effects of climate change in South Africa, as well as the global literature on the impactsof climate change on children, indicate the need for focused planning for preventive and responsivemeasures to enhance child well-being. Shortfalls in basic service provisions, inequities in serviceaccess, household poverty, poor housing, protection risks and income vulnerabilities are some of thechallenges that millions of children in South Africa face on a daily basis. These challenges underminetheir capacity to adapt to possible environmental shocks. Better planning and resourcing withinnational, provincial and local governments could enable children and their families to cope better withclimate change impacts as they arise in the short and medium run.At the national level, institutional changes are needed. Effective representation and meaningfulparticipation of children is a good starting point. Then representation has to move from passivereferencing in development plans to active integration and mainstreaming within all relevant decisionmaking processes. Children must be recognised formally as a unique social group and be formallyrepresented in the climate change policy development process and in processes to advance SouthAfrica’s commitment to Disaster Risk Reduction. For example, coordinating structures such asthe Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change (IGCCC) and the National Climate ChangeCommittee (NCCC) could be expanded to include all departments with a child-relevant mandate.Similarly, continuing processes to develop sectoral plans and a National Adaptation Plan by 2013present an opportunity to better integrate children’s issues. Lead agencies of climate change planning(such as the Ministry of Environmental Affairs) should promote the interest and engagement of othersector ministries in this regard. These should be promoted in close collaboration with the Ministry ofWomen, Children and Persons with Disabilities (MWCPD) and other actors whose work is improvingchild well-being. Departments’ speci c capacity for climate change and disaster risk reduction as itrelates to children will be required to be strengthened.Social protection policies should consider any additional rising needs in the context of climate changeeconomic pressures. The National Health Insurance, National Environmental Health Policy andSanitation Task Team processes offer unique spaces in which to increase the link between climatechange and children and to advocate child-focused solutions. Medium term adjustments to socialgrants should be ready to be made, to respond to environmental shocks. Many opportunities doexist that allow children and youth to take advantage of a potential future green economy. However,ensuring they do so will require signi cant policy attention.At the provincial and local levels, options to integrate children’s issues related to climate changeinto development policy processes include: The facilitation of participation by children in the development of conventional provincial plans, IDPs and adaptation plans; Water, sanitation and waste removal policies prioritising the provision of services to households where children are found, ensuring that the quantity provided in terms of free basic water and sanitation programmes is suf cient to meet the water requirements of children with their attendant risks of high temperatures, overcrowding, water-borne diseases and dehydration (Plans should make provisions for higher demand pressures on basic social services in the medium term in line with climate related risks for children, as identi ed in this study); Social development services becoming an integral part of any provincial and local government adaptation plan, with a clear identi cation of the protection risks children face in the case of climatic events (This would require, for example, establishing child-safe central gathering points Executive Summary 11

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1 IntroductionResponding to the impacts of climate change is a principal development challenge. It requiresaction from all stakeholders and it requires coordination across multiple levels of governance, fromhousehold and community, through municipal and provincial, to national and international levels. Inthe case of South Africa, the impacts of climate change on children need to be considered in relationto wider development pressures affecting the country. Challenges such as poverty and inequality, HIVand AIDS, international economic shocks and stresses, population growth, management of scarcenatural resources and rapid urbanisation will each interact with climate change and affect how it istransmitted to children and households at the local level.Although the impacts of climate change are likely to be widespread and will affect people differently,children are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Constituting nearly athird of the world’s population, and devoid of responsibility for the causes of climate change, childrenhave particular characteristics of vulnerability. These characteristics are multidimensional, shaped bythe changes that take place over the course of childhood as well as by their heightened sensitivityto negative or high-impact events during the early stages of development and by their general lackof agency and voice. This results in speci c experiences of climate change impacts and uniqueproperties in relation to children’s capacity to adapt. The effects of South Africa’s changing climateare likely to present particular challenges for children and young people across the country.Despite children’s particular vulnerability, few studies have investigated how climate change will affectchild development and well-being across South Africa in the short, medium and long term. Thisstudy seeks to redress this de ciency by exploring some of the key challenges relating to childrenand climate change in South Africa. In addition to synthesising international and South African child-relevant literature about impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, the study is complemented by datacollected through a series of international and national key informant interviews. Two case studies,involving an urban coastal region and rural agricultural zone, were undertaken in addition.Notwithstanding their unique vulnerabilities and the obvious need to give children particular attentionduring climate change debates, their issues are not well recognised there. Nor are children’s issuesaddressed within existing and emerging international and national policy frameworks. Commitmentsto children are not always as visible in policy and programming as they should be. However, theyare key to holding governments accountable for better addressing the multiple threats that climatechange raises for the well-being of children. Indeed, protecting the environment and providing forthe health, education and development of children are mutually inclusive goals (Goodman andIltus 2009). Almost any action taken to enhance environmental quality also helps to meet the basic 1. Introduction 15

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needs of children. It is therefore important not to separate climate change from other priorities but, rather, to integrate comprehensive actions that will incorporate climate risk and its management into development planning, programmes and projects. There is an important international legal framework that underpins the need for focusing particularly on how children’s well-being can be affected by climate change. It deliberately points out the duty of the State to enable children’s rights to be met. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) commits all signatory states to protect the right of every child to a safe, healthy environment, in which to develop and grow. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) recognises that the child and his or her development require particular care concerning health, physical, mental, moral and social development. It recognises that the child requires legal protection in conditions of freedom, dignity and security. In particular, it recognises the role of the State in protecting and reuniting children who have been displaced as a result of natural disasters. The World Fit for Children declaration, which was a consensus outcome from the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, held in 1992, articulates the commitment of states to protecting children and minimising the impact of natural disasters and environmental degradation on them. South Africa has already taken steps to understand, recognise and address the challenges that climate change poses. This can be seen, for example, in its National Climate Change Response strategies and other environmental and development policy response actions (see Appendix B for a full list of policy strategies reviewed). Yet the ability of these strategies to recognise and address the needs of the country’s children is not well established. This study seeks to ll this gap, by exploring South Africa’s policies relevant to climate change through a child’s lens. This process will examine the degree to which children’s issues are considered and addressed. The analysis of the impacts of climate change on child well-being is divided into primary and secondary impacts. Substantial changes in South Africa’s climate are likely through variables such as rising temperatures, changing patterns of precipitation and the differences in frequency and intensity of extreme events. Each of these changes will have signi cant direct physical impacts on children. Examples of direct primary impacts may include injury suffered during unusually heavy rainfall events or from increases in infectious, vector and water-borne diseases in areas subject to higher annual average temperatures and rainfall intensity. They can also be felt indirectly, when climate change interacts with other development pressures, resulting in such challenges as rising food prices or issues of local con ict over scarce natural resources, with children and households forced to cope accordingly. Secondary impacts on children are associated with the coping and adaptation strategies adopted in response to climate change. At the local level, examples of adaptation strategies would be: changing lifestyle and behaviour; seeking other forms of temporary employment to supplement income; permanently migrating to exploit new opportunities; or adopting a new livelihood practice. Though these strategies might be undertaken over longer timescales, they have signi cant and profound implications for child development and well-being. Typically, heads of households and caregivers decide these strategies. However, children may have some degree of agency and, when living on their own or in child-headed households, children will often in uence the nature of adaptation strategies themselves. The ability to carry out these adaptation strategies is known as the ‘adaptive capacity’. Levels of adaptive capacity vary tremendously from person to person, based on a range of socio-economic characteristics9. Those from poor households and marginalised groups (including women and girls) are generally considered to have lower adaptive capacity. The characteristics of adaptive capacity at the local level are generally well known. They include: an effective and appropriate asset base; access to relevant knowledge and information; an enabling institutional environment that allows entitlements to 9 For further information about the characteristics of adaptive capacity at the local level, see the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA).16 16 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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Figure 1: Analytical framework used in the study Wider Climate development variability and pressures change Primary impacts Response actions (coping and adaptation Direct and indirect strategies) e.g. Increasing temperatures; changing rainfall patterns; rising food prices Secondary impacts Implications for Emotional and Education and child wellbeing: social wellbeing development Health Nutrition pathways The report is structured as follows: Section 2 provides an overview of South Africa’s changing climate. Section 3 begins by discussing the interactions of development pressures and climate change impact and then provides a review of the literature of some of the known global-level impacts of climate change on children. It then explores some possible primary impacts of climate change on children, given the current developmental challenges facing children in South Africa and the patterning of projected climate change impacts. The section then provides an analysis of household and community adaptation to climate change and how this links positively and negatively to children. Section 4 contains the two case studies to explore whether children’s issues are considered in climate-related planning and to identify spaces where children can be engaged more actively as change agents in relation to climate change. Section 5 contains an analysis of the visibility of children in South Africa’s climate change policies, as well as the extent to which children’s vulnerability to climate change is incorporated into mainstream development policies and plans. Section 6 discusses the space for children’s active participation in relation to climate change. Finally, Section 7 provides some conclusions and recommendations.18 18 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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1.1 Research methods and scopeThe research synthesises and analyses previous studies and merges these with academic peer-reviewed literature. To inform and verify the results of the study, interviews were conducted with arange of international and South African experts from academia, NGOs and government agencies(see Appendix A). Interviewees were selected by means of a snowball sampling method, whichenabled key issues to be gathered from all respondents while expanding the range of participants andviews. The discussions generated some fruitful insights into national and provincial climate changeimpacts, the required policy change and some concrete examples of adaptation strategies currentlyimplemented across South Africa and the region.In analysing the impacts of climate change on children, it is impossible to have a holistic understandingof the dynamics of child development and well-being without considering the households that containthese and the livelihoods that sustain them. The impacts of climate change on the well-being ofchildren are analysed by applying an analytical framework that disentangles primary impacts from thesecondary impacts.Throughout this analysis, new information emerged constantly, as preliminary ndings and conclusionswere veri ed with experts working in the eld. For example, the interview process con rmed vebroad categories of adaptation action being implemented at household level and revealed concreteexamples speci c to South Africa. A child lens was then applied to identify how children in SouthAfrica could be affected by climate change and variability, adaptation and coping strategies and policyresponses. In the absence of primary research on the impact of climate change on children in SouthAfrica, it is important to highlight that the projected impacts discussed in this paper were inferredfrom two sources: rstly, data on the current situation of children in relation to health status, nutrition,access to water and sanitation services, education and emotional well-being; and secondly, evidencefrom the international literature of the impact of climate change on children in other countries.The research was predominantly desk based and did not produce primary data. Instead, it appliedthe analytical framework to available secondary sources of information and interviews with selectedkey informants. By way of responding to rural-urban challenges, the report contains two case studies:one of a provincial government in a rural riverine context in Limpopo province, the other involving ametropolitan government in an urban coastal city (Durban). These allowed a more thorough accountof impacts and policy development, in different contexts at local levels.Recognising the broad-ranging scope of the analysis, the report sought to explore some of the keychallenges relating to children and climate change that are relevant across South Africa. It did notdetail all aspects related to the impacts, vulnerability and adaptive capacity of children. This wouldnot have been possible during a largely desk-based study of this sort. Rather, given a general lack ofknowledge, research, and awareness it aimed to use its ndings and insights to start a meaningfuldiscussion.The authors hope this will contribute to effective recognition of and the action to safeguard theimmediate and long-term needs of children in South Africa. In doing so, the report seeks to providevaluable knowledge for improving policy and programme design at different levels of government. Thehope is that it can ensure that children are visible in climate change-related planning in the differentdimensions in which they might be affected. 1. Introduction 19

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2 South Africa’s changing climate “One minute it’s hot, the next minute it’s raining and there is hail, and then it’s hot again.” “As the icecaps melt the sea level will rise and some cities may be under water, because they are on low land. Climate change also forces the temperature to change and as temperature changes, some organisms and species are not able to adapt and as a result they fall into extinction.” “I would say that everything we do contributes (to climate change). We all have a footprint. e cars we drive, the food we eat, the houses we live in. Everything. e electricity we use, it all contributes. In South Africa we use electricity generated from coal. So when we use coal we burn it and it releases carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas and causes climate change.” “Climate change may also have a negative impact on the economy since the drastic weather changes may cause things like hurricanes, meaning that state funds will be directed at correcting what has been caused by those events.” “Droughts are also one of the results of climate change. If environments start changing, this can discourage tourists from visiting certain places.”Note: The quotes presented here illustrate some of the responses from children (aged 14–17 years)who participated in a series of focus group discussions at the national level and in the Limpopo andKwaZulu-Natal provinces. For further details, see UNICEF South Africa (2011) ‘Change through theEyes of a Child: South African children speak about climate change.’ 2. South Africa’s Changing Climate 21

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South Africa is a country with a diversity of climatic regions. Although classi ed as semi-arid, conditions range from temperate across the interior plateau, ‘Mediterranean’ in the southwest, to subtropical in the north-east and arid in certain parts of the north-west. This diversity owes largely to a complex regional topography and interactions with its surrounding oceans, the Indian Ocean to the south-east and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Rainfall varies considerably from east to west, with higher averages in the east (roughly 500mm p.a.) contrasting with low values in certain areas of the north-west (less than 200mm p.a.) (McSweeney et al. 2010). Considerable inter- and intra- annual variability in rainfall exists. One of the key drivers behind this variability is the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, typically resulting in reduced summer rainfall. Increased summer rainfall is associated with La Niña conditions. Although South Africa is generally not regarded as a country highly prone to disasters, relative to some of its regional neighbours, it is nonetheless beset by a number of hazards and weather related extreme events (Vermaak and van Niekerk 2010). Heat waves, oods, droughts, storm surges and wild res are examples of ‘natural’ disasters that have a history in South Africa. Importantly, the extent to which these have an effect on local populations is determined, to a large extent, by human conditions as well as the characteristics of the particular physical hazard. The human cost of weather-related extreme events can be considerable. For example, a drought in early 2004 led to six provinces being declared disaster zones, with an estimated 15 million people being affected nationwide (IFRC 2004). Similarly, ooding across KwaZulu-Natal in 1995 left thousands homeless and killed 207 people (Em-DAT 2011). Extreme events like these also have a heavy impact on livelihoods and assets, with wild res in late 2008 costing the country in the region of $430 million (ibid.). Such climate variability and weather-related extreme events have long been characteristic of South Africa’s climate. Dealing with them is part of day-to-day life. However, the prospect of future climate change is likely to have signi cant implications for South Africa, particularly the frequency and intensity of certain extreme events. Evidence indicates that, globally, climate change is having a strong in uence on the strength and frequency of climate variables such as storms, cyclones, oods and droughts (IPCC 2007). The impacts of these hazards depend largely on people’s vulnerability and their ability to cope and respond. By building community resilience and helping people to adapt to climate change, we can help to reduce the impact of future disasters. Before exploring how South Africa’s climate is likely to change in the near and distant future, it is important to look rst at how we have developed an understanding of climate change, and the processes behind projecting future climate change. The following section looks at some of the knowns and, more importantly, the unknowns regarding the status of climate change science. 2.1 Understanding climate change: what we know and what we don’t There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the past half-century has been caused largely by human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the changes in land use through agriculture and deforestation (IPCC 2007a). Measurements of the magnitude of future temperature increases and various other aspects of climate change are still subject to large uncertainties, especially at the regional scale. Nevertheless, the risks associated with some of these changes are substantial (Royal Society 2010). In order to develop a robust understanding of the impacts of regional change over the temporal and spatial scales required for effective policymaking, an integration of a number of different types of information is needed:22 22 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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Past trends in climate; Changes in driving processes from local to global scales (understanding global processes that interact and give rise to the regional climate); Model projections of change; Regional expressions of future global change; Assessments of uncertainty (all information is limited by a wide range of uncertainty sources).By drawing on this wide range of information, a better understanding of the climate system, its variabilityand change on a regional scale can be developed. Ignoring any of these sources of information leadsto a risk that key elements will be missed (DoEA 2010a).One of the main tools with which to assess future climate is climate modelling. Climate models varyconsiderably in their complexity and accuracy. The more complex seek to simulate interactionsbetween components of the climate system. These represent variations in parameters such astemperature, wind and humidity, with latitude, longitude and altitude, in the atmosphere as well asin the oceans. Global Circulation Models (GCMs) can represent parts of the Earth’s climate system.Broadly speaking, these models aim to simplify the behaviour of the climate into a set of mathematicalequations as easily understood projections for the past, present and the future. The most widelypublicised projections are derived from ensembles of GCMs that assess future climate on a ‘global’to ‘hundred of kilometres’ scale (Calow et al. 2011).To help understand future climate change at a scale more useful to local decision-making, climatemodellers turn to techniques of ‘downscaling’. Two methods of downscaling are used to produceregional climate scenarios: embedding Regional Climate Models (RCMs) within a GCM and empiricaldownscaling. In relation to the former, RCMs work by increasing the resolution of the GCM in a small,limited area of interest (also known as ‘dynamic downscaling’). They can resolve the local impacts,given smaller-scale information about local geography, altitude and land use, allowing weather andclimate information of resolutions as ne as 25 km . In empirical downscaling, statistical techniquesare used to downscale coarse GCM results. Relationships between modelled data and recordedobservational data are used to provide local detail (Wilby et al. 2004). Despite the obvious advantagesof both techniques in developing detailed climate projections relevant at a smaller scale, the capacityof the existing generation of models to project some aspects of regional climate change is restricted.Given the localised nature of this study, it is important to outline major sources of uncertainty thatcurrently limit the detail of regional climate change studies. Issues related to determining emissionsscenarios, the choice of appropriate climate models, the quality of historic data and methods ofdownscaling global data are a few of the sources of uncertainty (Schulze et al. 2010). Moreover,while global climate change projections can be downscaled for more meaningful application in policydevelopment, assumptions and errors made at the global level can be inherited. This often meansregional simulations have more uncertainty attached to them than global-level simulations, particularlyregarding the magnitude of any change. For Africa in particular, uncertainty in the science meansthere is currently limited understanding about the dynamics of the climate system in and around theAfrican continent, which is controlled by a range of complex maritime and terrestrial interactions thatproduce a large mix of climates across a variety of regions. More speci cally, it is extremely dif cultto simulate climate for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), given the wide range of feedback mechanisms. Forexample, up to 90% of current GCMs cannot replicate accurately past or present climatic conditionsobserved in SSA, suggesting that the models do not yet adequately capture signi cant feedbackbetween hydrological and climate systems (IPCC 2007a).Despite these uncertainties, it is clear that the climate is changing and will continue to do so for theforeseeable future. Continued population growth and rapid expansions in economic developmentare likely to further increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Indeed, scenarios presented in the 2. South Africa’s Changing Climate 23

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) are now widely viewed as conservative. The present GHG emissions are higher than those projected by the worst-case IPCC scenario and are consistent with a rise in global average temperatures of 3–4°C and 3–5°C over SSA (Calow et al. 2011). Importantly, as more of the different GCM and RCM models start agreeing on projection of future climate variables for South Africa, ‘there is now an arguable basis for developing appropriate response strategies for incorporating into adaptation policy’ (Lumsden et al. 2009: 656). 2.2 Impacts of climate change for South Africa in the present, immediate future and distant future10 South Africa is situated in the subtropical zone of the Southern Hemisphere. It has a complex climate, in uenced by the different rainfall regimes, the wide variety of elevations typical of Southern Africa as well as by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (McSweeney et al. 2011). Temperatures range from over 32°C in the summer to below freezing in the winter (in the inland plateaus). Different ocean currents mean the east coast experiences temperatures that are about 5°C warmer than those in some parts of the western coast. These currents are also partly responsible for the variation in rainfall from west to east. The north-west generally receives less than 200mm of rainfall per year, whereas over 500mm can fall in the east (ibid.). Rainfall variability is also signi cantly in uenced by ENSO events and sea surface temperature anomalies in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans. In comparison, there is currently little differentiation between average temperatures in the north and south of the country. However, inland areas have a greater variety of temperature ranges, given weather characteristics associated with the higher elevation. 2.2.1 Recent climate trends Broadly speaking, South Africa’s climate is characterised by a trend of temperatures. The mean annual temperature change in South Africa between 1960 and 2003 was an increase of around 0.6°C at a rate of roughly 0.14°C per decade (Figure 2). More noticeable to South Africans is the growing frequency of days and nights perceived as ‘hot’11, with temperature observations showing signi cant increasing trends in daily temperature extremes across the country (McSweeney et al 2010). Identifying trends in precipitation is more dif cult, as most published studies show no clear evidence of statistically signi cant trends in total annual rainfall for the country as whole (DoEA 2010). However, signi cant variation exists across the country and in different seasons. For example, statistically signi cant changes point towards predominantly positive trends (i.e. more rainfall) over the southwest winter rainfall region and negative trends (less rainfall) over the north-east summer rainfall region (DoEA 2010a). More recently, there has been strong agreement about a historical increase in rainfall intensities and an increase in dry spell duration and drought for particular regions across the country (ibid.). 10 Current and future climate impacts are presented here based on time horizons used to represent the Earth’s climate in the latest regional scenarios developed as part of the AR3 (2001) and AR4 (2007). The terminology used to describe these time periods are ‘present’ (1960– 1990), ‘intermediate future’ (2046–2065) and ‘distant future’ (2081–2100). 11 ‘Hot’ day or ‘hot’ night is deﬁned by the temperature exceeded on 10% of days or nights in current climate of that region and season.24 24 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa

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Figure 2: Trends in mean annual maximum, minimum and average temperatures asobtained from a record of 44 years (1960–2003) Trend in Max. Temperature Trend in Temperature Trend in Min. Temperature No trend Signiﬁcant positive trend Non-signiﬁcant positive trend Signiﬁcant negative trend Non-signiﬁcant negative trendSource: DoEA (2010a) adapted from Kruger and Shongwe (2004).Sea levels are rising around the South African coast, in agreement with current global trends. However,signi cant regional differences exist. For example, the west coast is rising by +1.87mm.yr-1, the southcoast by +1.47 mm.yr-1 and the east coast by +2.74 mm.yr-1. These differences are attributed toregional differences in vertical crust movements and large-scale oceanographic processes off theeast and west coasts (DoEA 2010a). A number of studies suggest that the intensity and frequency ofextreme storms in South Africa are increasing and are projected as rising further, with similar trendslikely for wave heights (ibid.).2.2.2 Projections of future temperature change in the immediate and distant future12It is not possible to predict with absolute certainty what will happen at the sub-national level asa result of climate change. Moreover, given the range of feedback mechanisms in uencing rainfallvariability and change, it is much more dif cult to simulate precipitation than temperature. However,using the GCM downscaling and RCM methods described earlier, climate scientists are increasinglyable to understand the types of impacts that can be expected and how severe these could be.12 Using a review of the recent relevant peer-reviewed climate literature for South Africa, this section summarises the latest knowledge about the implications of rainfall statistics from regional GCM scenarios for South Africa’s water resources. The comprehensive literature review also drew on recent climate change policy and strategy documents released by the South African government and data used in the production of the IPCC AR3 and AR4. Information was also obtained during a series of key informant interviews with climate scientists and impact experts. 2. South Africa’s Changing Climate 25

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Based on a host of different emissions scenarios, GCM projections tell us that, in the medium term,by the 2060s, the mean annual temperature for South Africa is projected as increasing by 1.1°C to2.4°C countrywide, relative to the baseline period of 1970–1990. As shown in Box 1, the scale of thechange is greater over the longer term, with mean annual temperatures projected as increasing by1.6°C to 4.3°C by 2090 (McSweeney et al. 2011). The projected rate of warming does not changeduring different parts of the year. However, as the colour-coded charts show, where the extent oftemperature change is represented by light green (less change) to darker shades of orange (greaterchange), the gradual warming over time is expected to be more pronounced inland than at the coastalregions for all time periods (ibid.).2.2.3 Projections of future precipitation change in the medium and long termGCM ensembles suggest that South Africa will experience a slight decrease in rainfall in the mediumand long term under all emissions scenarios. Established but incomplete GCM projections for the winterrainfall region consistently suggest future rainfall decreases, while summer rainfall region projectionsdeviate less from the present climate. With locally developed regional downscaling techniques, rainfallprojections for the summer rainfall region show a tendency towards wetting (DoEA 2010a). However,there are likely to be wide variations across the country, with some areas experiencing an increasein rainfall in heavy rainfall events, for example with more than 5mm, 10mm or 20mm of rainfall in one24-hour period (McSweeney et al. 2011).More speci c RCM projections based on an A2 scenario, considered most realistic given presentinternational actions and commitments (this scenario of GHG emissions assumes that efforts to reduceglobal emissions this century are relatively ineffective), show that the west coast and adjacent interiorof the country are expected to see a reduction in mean annual precipitation; some catchments in thewestern interior will experience little or no change in rainfall between now and the 2060s (Lumsden etal. 2009). The south of the Western Cape is expected to have more rainless days by the 2060s, whichcould exacerbate current water scarcity in that region. Conversely, there could be fewer rainless daysin the east of the country during this time period (ibid.). The number of extreme rainfall events, suchas the severe ooding of informal settlements as in Alexandra and the Cape Flats, in Johannesburgand Cape Town respectively, in recent years, is expected to increase in central and eastern parts ofthe country. However, as displayed by the yellow shading in the charts above, by the 2060s and 2090sthe west of South Africa is likely to see fewer days where rainfall reaches more than 5mm in a heavyrainfall event (Schulze et al. 2010).While it is clear that some areas will experience increased average rainfall and rainfall intensity in the2060s, compared with today, this is not likely to help reduce current water scarcity challenges. Thisis because projected temperature increases could exacerbate the possibility of drying and increasedevapo-transpiration, counteracting any increases in rainfall, with severe implications for agricultureand water resources (Lumsden et al. 2009; McSweeney et al. 2011). It is also important to note thatthe uncertainty of GCM climate projections for climate variability and change in Southern Africa isincreased as a result of disagreements in model outputs on the severity and frequency of future ElNiño events (McSweeney et al. 2011). 2. South Africa’s Changing Climate 27

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Box 2: Projections for South Africa precipitation Observed and projected trends in monthly precipitation for South Africa 40 Precipitation Anomaly (mm) 20 0 B1 -20 A2 A1B -40 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080 2100 Notes: All values shown are anomalies, relative to the 1970–1999 mean climate. Black curves show the mean of observed data from 1960 to 2006. Brown curves show the median (solid line) and range (shading) of model simulations of recent climate across an ensemble of 15 models. Coloured lines from 2006 onwards show the median (solid line) and range (shading) of the ensemble projections of climate under three emissions scenarios. Coloured bars on the right-hand side of the projections summarise the range of mean 2090–2100 climates simulated by the 15 models for each emissions scenario. Source: McSweeney et al. (2011). An example of a regional projection for South Africa for 2046–2065: change in mean annual precipitation (left); change in total number of heavy rainfall events – rainfall >20mm (right) Note: Projections based on empirical downscaling of Model for Ratio Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC) model outputs run for an A2 < 0.6 scenario. Outputs from a single model are not considered suitable enough to 0.6 – 0.8 generate ‘reliable’ predictions. An ensemble of a number of different models 0.8 – 0.95 is needed to gather greater conﬁdence in projected trends and outputs. All No change ﬁgures are relative to 1960–1990 baseline. 1.05 – 1.2 Source: Lumsden et al. (2009). 1.2 – 1.4 1.4 – 1.6 1.6 – 1.8 > 1.828 28 Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa